Tomorrow, September 26th, will mark the beginning of 40 days of prayer, fasting, peaceful vigil, and community outreach to help bring an end to abortion. Men, women, and children from various backgrounds and faiths will unite together in Charlottesville to provide a witness to the Gospel of Life. The Charlottesville community will be united with our brothers and sisters across the nation in 89 cities in 33 states who are participating in similar 40 Days for Life campaigns.

A goal of the campaign is to peacefully reach out to the community and share a point-of-view about abortion that considers both the woman and her child.

We believe we can love both women and babies and that abortion is not a real solution to women's problems of poverty, lack of partner support, fear of losing a job, or fear of giving up the chance at education.

We want our neighbors to think about how we treat the vulnerable--women in crisis pregnancies and unborn children--and think about ways we can better support women who would like to keep their babies or who would like to put them up for adoption but for economic or social reasons feel they have no choice but abortion.

If a woman chooses abortion because she fears losing her job, due to inflexible policies at that company, is it really a choice? If a woman chooses abortion because her boyfriend or husband will throw her out of the house, is that a free choice? If a woman chooses abortion because she doesn't want to interrupt her education, we ask, why must she choose between her baby and her education?

We challenge our society to love them both--to love both women and babies--and to enact policies and social programs that show that love. We ask our faith community to step up and support the non-profit groups that we already have in our area that provide housing, economic support, food, diapers, clothing, parenting classes, job skills classes, help with education, and other services to women (and babies) in need. We ask our local businesses and schools to rethink their policies that relate to pregnant women in the workplace and to working mothers and fathers and to ask if their policies support a truly free choice for women. Women should not have to choose between their children and their job or their education. Source

At the heart of the campaign is prayer. Accordingly, there are specific intentions for prayer that everyone can remember during the day whether they are able to physically be present at the vigil or not. Today's campaign prayer intention is:

Pray that the Body of Christ unites together in prayer and fasting across America -- and around the world -- through 40 Days for Life.

For more information, visit the 40 Days for Life Charlottesville Web site where you can sign up to participate.